Chapter Fifty-Four

Danica

A short time later, I find five sets of eyes peering at me intently as we all gather around Theo’s dining room table.

“Alright KC, I need you to think back, who have you spoken with about Theo since moving to Seattle? Anyone at all, could be the most innocent of conversations, anything could be helpful.”

Finn glances back down to his laptop as he types away, making note of anything that I say that could possibly be useful.

I pause, taking time to consider his words. “I don’t talk about Theo much; haven’t really, to anyone outside of our group.”

Theo’s grimace as he mutters under his breath, “Ouch,” is almost enough to make me laugh, but I continue, trying to act as if I didn’t notice.

“Obviously, he has been a point of discussion in the past with both you and Jonathan. Aside from you guys, however,” I gesture broadly in the direction of where Finn and Roberts are sitting, referring to Finn’s team in general, “the only other people I can think of, would be Sierra and Quincy, Bash, and Caleb. And Elena.”

At the mention of his mother’s name, Theo throws me an inquisitive look, but I ignore him. “There isn’t anyone else I would really talk about him with. And honestly, up until recently, I hadn’t spoken of him much at all, not since everything first happened after moving to Seattle, when I found out he was . . .” I search for the right words, “. . . keeping an eye on me in his free time.”

Finn just nods, not pausing as he continues his notations. “And T- I know you have received a lot of notes over the years, but can you recall when you received that one, specifically?” He gestures vaguely in the direction of the threatening note lying in the middle of the table that refers to him as my ghost.

“Oh yeah! That was just a few weeks ago, back when we-” Darrion interrupts excitedly, but hesitates, shooting me a weary look. “Uh, when we met up with Jerry.”

I don’t miss the daggers that Theo is sending Muscle’s way (or rather, Darrion), and the man just smiles sheepishly in response, as he shrugs. “Sorry, boss.”

Weird.

“Alrighty, then. Anyway, as my friend here was saying,” Theo continues on Darrion’s behalf, “that note came just a couple of weeks ago. We investigated it, but came up empty-handed at the time.”

“Right. So, the note led you to Jerry but you weren’t able to get any information out of the dude. Got it.” Never one to beat around the bush, Finn gets right to the point. Ah. Okay, got it.

Theo glances over at Finn exasperatedly. “Come on, man!”

Pausing now, Finn looks up at Theo, whose eyes are widened in an exaggerated manner, and I can’t help it. This time, I do laugh.

“Theo, I got it. I told you; I already know. I think everyone in the room here knows, so if we can all stop walking on eggshells around me and acting as if I don’t know what the rest of you know, I am sure this whole conversation would go a lot more smoothly. I’m fine.”

“Seriously? What do you think you know?

“More than you realize, apparently.” I cross my arms, annoyed at the skepticism in his tone. “And I already told you, I’m fine. I promise. We can talk about that more later.” I jerk my chin, gesturing to the overly interested party gathered around the table. “That’s more of a private conversation. But for the purpose of this particular gathering, let’s just all assume everyone is pretty much on the same page, here, okay?”

Theo shifts uncomfortably, lips tightening into a thin line at my words, but Finn interrupts before he has a chance to respond.

“Good. So, we are all on the same page. Jerry didn’t tell you much. None of the other notes led to any good leads on your end; much like the trouble we have been having on ours. But now we can confirm that the person who has been harassing KC is the same one that has been blackmailing you for the last seven years. I know I already looked over the notes earlier on, T, but if you don’t mind, I want to take them with me. Run a cross-analysis between the two sets to see if there was anything we missed.”

Finishing his notes, Finn closes his laptop, resting his hands on top of it as he looks from Theo to myself. “In the meantime, we know that Danica has a very small community that she has been open with, which means opportunities have been limited as to where the stalker could have heard such an intimate discussion. I’ll meet up with Jonathan and go back through our records to find the times when she met up with any of us and see if we can backtrack the details of when and where that conversation happened. Knowing the timeframe is more limited to either when you first moved here three years ago, or more recent within the last few weeks should help nail down a timeline of events.”

Finn stands, and Roberts follows suit. “We’ve got a lot of information to work through, so I’m going to head out and get started on this. In the meantime, Roberts will keep an eye on things over at your apartment and will continue to oversee security for Prism until we can nail this down.”

Roberts walks over to me now, bending his head down to whisper in my ear as he hugs me. “You sure you’re gonna be okay here with him, kiddo?” And by ‘him,’ I assume he is referring to Theo.

I smile, hugging him tightly. “I’m good, I promise, Roberts. I’ll call you if I need anything. Thank you so much for your help.”

“For you, kiddo? Anything.” With a quick kiss to the top of my head, he turns and heads to the elevator where Finn is waiting.

“Hey Finn?” He looks over at me questioningly.

“Be careful, okay?” He just tips his head in acknowledgement. “Love you!”

“Love you too, KC.” He looks over my shoulder, to where Theo is now standing behind me. “Be careful with her, yeah?”

Theo rests a firm hand on my shoulder, his solid presence comforting. “I will.”

“What now, boss man?”

Theo reaches down, grabbing my hand and pulling me up to stand at his side, before he wraps me in his warm embrace. I glance over to his. . . henchmen? Friends? Employees? Gosh, I don’t even know what they are, technically. Either way, I look from where Jayce and Darrion are standing across from us, up to Theo’s scowling face.

“I really wish you would stop calling me that.”

Jayce just grins in response, dimples on full display. “No can do, boss man.”

Sighing, Theo leans his head down to rest it on my shoulder. “Well, it’s been a really long fucking night. And I have a game tomorrow. I don’t know about the both of you, but personally? I am gonna go take my girl upstairs and go the fuck to sleep. You should go home and do the same. We can figure out what comes next in the morning.”

“Right.” Darrion drags out the word. “We’ll let you and your girl. . . get some sleep then. Night boss. And boss’s lady.” He shoots me a wink, and with that, they head to the elevator as well.

Theo sighs, and I can feel the heavy weariness rolling off him in waves. Turning, I grab his hand and begin to lead him towards the stairs. “Come on, let’s go to bed.”